James Coignard

(Tours 1925 - 2008 Mougins)

After his application to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Tours is rejected, Coignard works as a public servant until 1952, apprenticing with the painter Louis Marchand des Raux and studying the art of Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse. In 1953, he exhibits work in the Salon d’Automne in Paris. He becomes an admirer of the oeuvre of Antoni Clavé. Beginning in 1959, Coignard regularly exhibits at Drouant-David in Paris. After 1968, he branches out into graphic art, building a sizable oeuvre, and in the 1970s, numerous exhibitions at prestigious galleries in Europe and the U.S. win him an international clientele.